A typical Broadcast Operations Center relies on several sources of information to provide an overview of activities related to content distribution, routing, and playback to air channels. One source of information is the output of a Broadcast Traffic System, which is used to view the specific elements intended for broadcast. A separate source of information is the output of an Automation System, which details which elements are actually being played to air. Typically, the output of the Broadcast Traffic System is printed to paper (the Broadcast Logs) and given to authorized users.
However, many problems can occur in a Broadcast Operations Center that operates in such a fashion. For example, it is often important to compare the traffic output of the Broadcast Traffic System with the automation output of the Automation System to make sure every element of the traffic output is aired correctly. In such an example, in order to ensure that every element airs correctly, a user has to check each element in the traffic output with each element in the automation output, which is a very manual effort and can take a considerable amount of time and effort. For another example, when changes are made to the Broadcast Traffic System after the Log is printed it requires a user to reprint numerous copies of the new traffic output and distribute those copies to authorized users and is again checked against the automation system to ensure changes have been correctly applied.
Another separate and manual function of a Broadcast Center is capturing, investigating and reporting broadcast channel/feed related information, problems and discrepancies for each broadcast day.